As your sheriff of Hudson County, and as a law enforcement officer for many years, I must strongly oppose the recent overtures by some federal legislators to permit individuals to carry concealed weapons over state lines and throughout the country.

It is most certain that handguns and other types of weapons only belong in the possession of law enforcement and military personnel. We lost a dedicated, professional and caring Jersey City officer in the person of Detective Marc DiNardo, slain by career criminals in possession of an automatic type of shotgun which was bought to our city from another part of the country. Certainly, these types of weapons should be prohibited from being manufactured, imported, or sold in the United States of America.

Further, we oppose proposed federal bills HR 4900, HR 2296 and S 941, as these laws would certainly undermine federal agents and local law enforcement in their fight against illegal guns. These bills would create an unnecessarily high evidentiary standard in licensing procedures, allowing the gun dealer to use "ignorance of the law" as an excuse in the breaking of the law, allow gun dealers to sell guns 60 days after the ATF revokes a license, block the ATF from updating record keeping, would not require federally licensed gun dealers to report multiple handgun sales to state or local law enforcement, and would slant license revocation procedures in favor of law breaking gun dealers.

We have witnessed, throughout the country and in our own Jersey City, fatal shootings of police officers and civilians utilizing illegal guns and guns that harm humanity. The above bills and the proposal to permit guns to be carried in a concealed manner would only add to the problems of law enforcement and protect dealers who break the law. Our law enforcement officers and the general public deserve protection in every area from gun violence and other crimes.